


Day 1: Shaky Hands

by MadhouseVagabond



Series: Whump-tober 2019 [1]
Category: Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter RPF
Genre: 31 days of whump, Angst, FAHC, GTA, Gen, Whump-Tober, battle buddies, prepare for angst to the MAX, writing challenge
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-01
Updated: 2019-10-01
Packaged: 2020-11-09 01:48:58
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,331
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20845541
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MadhouseVagabond/pseuds/MadhouseVagabond
Summary: There was only way to make the shaking stop...





	Day 1: Shaky Hands

The gun felt heavy in his hand as he held it, leveled at the other's chest, his eyes firm as he glared. Jeremy stood there, hands raised in surrender, eyes wide as he glanced from the gun to the one pointing it at him, swallowing nervously as his mind raced desperately for a way out of this.

"You don't have to do this," he said in a soft, shaky voice.

"Shut your mouth! Now move, I'm tired of your stalling," the other commanded and gestured with the gun in the direction of the dark room off to their left.

Jeremy glanced at the room and swallowed, looking back at the man and searching his eyes for any trace of the friend he'd once known. The other growled and took a menacing step forward, shoving Jeremy towards the room, the lad shaking as he tried to think passed the panic welling up in him.

The lights came on in the room and the lad nearly gagged at the sight, a strangled sob escaping him as he looked around. Geoff and Jack lay on the floor a few steps away, blood pooling around them from where they'd been shot. Michael was leaned against the wall, blood smeared from where he'd slid down it into his sitting position.

Jeremy's eyes filled with tears as they fell upon the last body in the room, the most familiar and most painful. The man was bound to a chair, had been for some time it seemed, head leaned back and eyes closed, blood pouring down the front of his shirt where he'd been shot in the chest multiple times. He looked oddly at peace, and Jeremy knew that the man was finally free of the mental torment that he'd endured for as long as the lad had known him. He took a step towards the figure in the chair, pausing before taking another, sobs shaking his shoulders as the tears streamed down his face. He knelt beside the chair, hand resting on the dead man's shoulder as he gently and tenderly, brushed a strand of dirty-blonde hair out of the man's face, rubbing a thumb over the cheek, feeling for the familiar warmth that he was used to that was no longer there. He was dead.

"Ryan," he cried as he buried his face against the taller man's arm, wishing his Battle Buddy would answer him, that he'd sit up and tell him that everything was going to be okay, that they were still a team.

"Why?" he sobbed.

"Why?" the man behind him asked in rage-filled voice.

"Why did you do it Gavin? Why did you kill them? They were your friends, your family! They loved you!" Jeremy cried.

"Loved me?! They treated me like shit! Made fun of me, bullied me, pushed me to my limit time and time again for so many years! A guy can only take so much before he snaps Jeremy!" Gavin shouted angrily.

"That's not how it was and you know it!" Jeremy snapped and looked up at the man he once called friend.

"It was. No one ever thought that little Gavvey would be the one to snap and kill everyone. They all assumed it would be Ryan, the Vagabond. No one ever gave me a second thought which gave me the advantage!" Gavin snarled.

"Gavin, you don't have to do this. Please," Jeremy said more gently this time.

"I'm sorry Jeremy, I really did like you. But you've got to go," Gavin said and leveled the gun at Jeremy's chest again, the lad shrinking back against Ryan in fear.

"Gavin, please!" Jeremy cried as tears filled his eyes.

Gavin paused, something coming over him. Seeing Jeremy frightened, scared of him, crying over the body of their friend...

His hands began to shake, as they'd done each time he'd killed one of the crew, thinking the shaking would stop and his hands would be steady once again. He glanced down and saw how bad they were, wondering what was happening to him. A voice in the back of his head begged him not to kill Jeremy, to let him live and to leave all this behind. He glanced at the bodies of his friends and family around him, sadness welling up in him at the sight. They were gone, the people he cared most about in the world were gone. Geoff, who’d given him a home and been like a father to him; Jack who was very much the mother hen of the group and did his best to keep all of them happy and healthy; Ryan, who although was creepy and scary, always had his back and would gladly put himself in the way of danger to protect him; Michael, his boi, his best friend since the day they'd met, always by his side, always getting into trouble together and bailing each other out. He looked down at Jeremy, seeing his friend who'd worked so hard to prove his worth the entire time he worked with the crew, always smiling and laughing, always willing to go out for bevs or play video games or do dumb shit with his fellow Lads. He remembered the countless missions they'd been on, either both on a job or heist or him directing Jeremy via comlink.

Gavin took an unsteady step back and made a small noise of confusion, his head beginning to hurt as he looked around, then down at the gun in his hand. He looked back to Jeremy who was glancing nervously at him while holding onto Ryan's arm where it was bound to the chair, finding security somehow just being near his Battle Buddy even though he was dead. Something flashed in Gavin's mind, a brief image of Jeremy standing next to Ryan as they stood on the sidewalk laughing. Laughing at him! Standing there soaking from tripping and falling into a puddle, the two not helping him in any way shape or form but deciding to laugh and jeer, Jeremy taking a photo or video he couldn't remember which.

Gavin's anger flared back up and he snarled, stepping closer to Jeremy and leveling the gun once again at the lad, hand shaking badly now. Jeremy whimpered and looked like he was protecting Ryan, an instinct Gavin supposed. He grabbed Jeremy by the front of his shirt and with a surprising amount of strength, jerked the lad away from Ryan's corpse and tossed him against the nearest wall, Jeremy letting out a cry of surprise and terror as Gavin stalked towards him.

"I'm done being bullied by you lot! I've had about as much as I can take. You're the only thing standing in my way of freedom! Once I get rid of you I'll be free of all of your torment and jeering!" Gavin yelled.

"Gavin don't!" Jeremy cried and raised a hand.

The gunshot sounded like an explosion going off in the small room, echoing down the halls and reverberating off the walls. Gavin stared down at Jeremy's body, a look of pain and fear on the lad's face. He stepped forward and put a couple more rounds into the body of his friend before dropping the gun and taking a step back. He closed his eyes and took several deep breaths, a large grin spreading across his face. He opened his eyes and began to laugh, a maniacal, crazed laugh as he looked around, skipping from body to body before returning to Jeremy's.

"Say hi to the rest of the crew for me Lil' J will you?" he asked and laughed again. He was finally free.

As Gavin left the room, closing the door and locking it, he didn't notice that his hands were still shaking, only they were worse now. Killing Jeremy had done nothing to stop them like he'd hoped, and now they wouldn't stop, a constant reminder of what he'd done that would stick with him for the rest of his life.

**Author's Note:**

> Welcome to the dumpster fire that is this year’s Whump writing challenge! It never gets better, existence is pain and I’ll be crying in the comments with y’all. So excited for y’all to read these!


End file.
